Banfield Misdiagnosis

October 7, 2012 …

A year to the day since taking Carlisle to emergency and I’m only now finding it possible to continue writing about it. I’ve wanted to, needed to, planned to, but — as much as I’ve tried — I’ve been unable to separate my emotions. The loss tore me apart to such a degree, it’s been difficult to write about anything.

It didn’t have to happen. It shouldn’t have happened. The doctor involved has since been found negligent by the state, incompetent. Banfield the Pet Hospital somehow promoted her.

In exchange for my silence, Banfield offered to reimburse the cost of emergency medical fees we endured at the hands of their mistake. Along the way, I’ve learned how often cases like this occur and how eager the company is to put non-disclosure forms in front of people in order to keep stories like this out of the media. I know this because Banfield’s regional medical director said exactly that in a phone message, after he thought he had hung up but the machine kept recording.

A recent Google search for “Banfield misdiagnosis” brought up 65 pages of people just like me. The decision became obvious.

I refuse to be silenced and Carlisle will not be forgotten, he did not exist on this Earth to be reduced as another senseless statistic. His story is too important a lesson to pet owners, when selecting treatment and putting trust in a diagnosis.

I’ll always be angry about what happened — capable of bursting into tears at the thought of it — but it’s not about me. It’s actually no longer about Carlisle, it’s about everyone reading this who loves their pet and wants to have confidence in what usually turns out to be highly expensive medical care.

Carlisle is no longer here to tell his story and that’s why he found me. It’s taken a year to get this far but I promised Carlisle’s memory that I’d never stop fighting for him.